A Kerry Query

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Gui

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25 Apr 2012
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Potton, Beds
Hi everyone,

For this first post I wish to express my thanks to all the contributors on this most excellent forum. I have been like a sponge on UKW for the best part of a year, all the while setting myself up with a shed and a few tools, as a wannabe woodworking hobbyist.

I wanted a pillar drill and was lucky (or mad) enough to acquire a Kerry's Works (Leyton, London) 8 speed "Superdrill" floorstander from a gentleman just a couple of miles down the road, a few months ago. It's a great machine, with a striking look (a bit of an elegant brute) and has an indestructible feel to it. It's also doing a great job of keeping the shed from flying away in the wind :)
I have no idea how much it weights but that has got to be in excess of 400 lbs, easily !

It's usable (and I use it) but in need of a little restoration / TLC. The main issues are:

  • the motor (also vintage: it's a 1/3HP single phase 1425 rpm Hoover made at the Cambuslang Works in Glasgow) must have been lifted from some other machine and mounted onto the drill as it was, as the 3 (instead of 4) steps pulley on the motor shaft is the wrong way round, so only one speed (maybe 2 at a stretch) can be set. I need to source an identical-ish pulley to the one on the quill and mount it on that motor. Any good sources for pulleys you would recommend ?
  • It should be an 8 speed drill. 4 belt positions, and each can be reduced by a factor of 7.1 (down to 86 rpm, so it should be suitable for drilling for East Anglian oil :D ) by engaging - with an eccentric movement - a parallel-axis gear reducer. This engages with gears that are placed co-axially at either end of the quill pulley (difficult to explain without a picture at present): on the quill axis, the gear above the stepped pulley is coupled to the chuck spindle (but not permanently to the pulley), and the gear below the pulley is coupled to the pulley permanently. When the reducer is engaged, the top gear (and thus the chuck) rotates 7 times slower than the bottom gear (and thus the pulley) and when it's not engaged, both gears rotate together. I fail to understand how this works exactly, there seems to be some kind of mechanism to couple / decouple the 2 quill gears and that is hidden by the stepped pulley itself. That is not functioning at present, as when I engage the reducer the entire thing locks up after about half a turn of the chuck. There seems to be something loose hidden inside the pulley as well... I was wondering whether there could be some kind of centrifugal clutch in there, that is what sprang to my mind but on the other hand that seems OTT for such a drill and I probably got this completely wrong.

Before I dismantle part of the head to try and understand how it works (and I believe that requires extracting at least one bearing) would anyone have any information about those Kerry drills please ? It would appear that quite a bit is known about drills from Progress, Fobco, Meddings, Ajax, Startrite, etc... but not Kerry (I only found some info about their lathes). I'd also be interested about the company (when did they operate, etc...), or any information that would help me date my drill. For instance, I found a picture of a 1948 ad for Kerry that shows the model of the drill I have (albeit the benchtop version). But then in those days such designs probably did not need to change for years and the moulds could have been used up to the Seventies, couldn't they ? I could not find a date on the drill, it just has a number on the casting: "650".

Many thanks,
Guillaume
 
Have look at lathes.co.uk for info on all sorts of older machines not only lathes.

They do sell manuals but at a fearsome price.

The mechanism you describe is generically known as a back gear based on it's location on a lathe. There should be some sort of dog-clutch arrangement for the high speed drive which disconnects when the lower ratio is selected.
 
I did look at the lathes site (sorry can't post domain names yet) which is where I found a great page on Kerry lathes, however searching on that site for "back gear" found latheparts/page4.html (sorry I can't post full URLs yet) where the photo of the headstock and back gear assembly for a 1934 Atlas looks strikingly close to what's at the head of the drill, so many thanks for pointing to the proper terminology.

That pages also says:
*If, instead of a pin, a bolt head is found, slacken this just sufficiently so that it can be pushed downwards to disengage the bolt that holds the bull-wheel and pulley together. If the nut is removed the pin may fall to the inside, requiring the whole headstock assembly to be dismantled in order to recover it.
There is definitely something loose inside the V-Pulley, and currently the back gear is not usable. The bull-wheel and the V-Pulley have been coupled together with a bolt but that feels like a bodge to keep it going, which it does at a speed suitable for drilling wood (and even forstnering, below an inch), but my aim would be to restore the drill to its full capability so it sounds like I'll have to dismantle it.
 
I have been using a Kerry Drill since 1971 at work. Used a few other tools as well!
The Backgear on ours is disengaged with a pin that is opposite to a bolt with a nut on. 180 degrees. The pin is lifted up and holds with a detent ball and spring. WITHOUT the motor running I can put my fingers of right hand in through the top of the guard and turn chuck with left hand. I feel for the pin and simply pull it up. After this pin is lifted the backgear eccentric is turned to engage gears. Again turn chuck by hand to mesh the gears. Reverse procedure to change back to higher speeds.
Remember that in low gear the torque is 7 times higher and you may struggle to hold a part you are drilling. But you can drill things that are very hard with patience and the slow cutting speeds without damaging the drill bit.
This Kerry Drill is still loads better than any Sealey or other make that looks like a Sealey, there seem to be several of same design, with a two belt system and centre stepped pulley.
The rack on the quill stripped the teeth off about 25 years ago but I repaired it (cast Iron) by milling a keyway slot along the rack, inserting a long key welded in place and simply grinding by eye some new teeth in the steel key. It works, You don't always have to be dead accurate on simple machinery.
Pat
 
I bought the slightly smaller Kerry Drillmaster earlier on this year, and it is a great piece of kit, easily as good as the Fobco/Elliott Progress/ drills I have used in the past.

I called Tony at lathes.co.uk on the phone, very friendly and very helpful and knowledgeable. I ended up buying a repro manual from him, not cheap, but a worthwhile investment, which included an exploded diagram of the machine and a parts list. Probably a good place to start.
 
Hello all,
I am new to this site and have just purchased a Kerry Super 8 bench Pillar drill mk1 which turned out to be a less than super 1 speed. The motor is only 1/4 HP (not 1/2 HP) and has a single pulley on it (not the 4 stepped 2,3,4,5"). One of the two drive splines on the quill is badly graunched (I mean badly!) and the back gear engagement parts are missing and the threads on the large gear wheel and the two holes in the final drive pulley where the pegs (?) go are elongated and mashed!! As you can see I spent a few happy hours taking it to bits.

I think I can overcome the above, all of which I was not expecting, but what I cannot overcome is the fact that it never had a drill table. It is a mk1 so should have the round table and I know the pillar diameter is 2 3/4". If I can't get a Kerry part, other drills have this diameter, I could even use a table from a 70mm shafted drill if I could find one.

My question is 'Does anyone know where I could go to find a suitable sliding table....are there any machine tool breakers anywhere (closest to Brentwood, Essex the better!)

Thanks in advance,

Risto
 
Hello all,
I am new to this site and have just purchased a Kerry Super 8 bench Pillar drill mk1 which turned out to be a less than super 1 speed. The motor is only 1/4 HP (not 1/2 HP) and has a single pulley on it (not the 4 stepped 2,3,4,5"). One of the two drive splines on the quill is badly graunched (I mean badly!) and the back gear engagement parts are missing and the threads on the large gear wheel and the two holes in the final drive pulley where the pegs (?) go are elongated and mashed!! As you can see I spent a few happy hours taking it to bits.

I think I can overcome the above, all of which I was not expecting, but what I cannot overcome is the fact that it never had a drill table. It is a mk1 so should have the round table and I know the pillar diameter is 2 3/4". If I can't get a Kerry part, other drills have this diameter, I could even use a table from a 70mm shafted drill if I could find one.

My question is 'Does anyone know where I could go to find a suitable sliding table....are there any machine tool breakers anywhere (closest to Brentwood, Essex the better!)

Thanks in advance,

Risto
Hi. Are you still looking for parts for the Kerry Drillmaster?.
 

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